Using census data in the management of religious diversity: an Australian case study

Abstract

Mapping and measuring religious diversity has become critical to the management of interreligious relations in the 21st century. The data about religious identification provided by the Australian census since the formation of Federal Government in Australia, and prior to that in the Colonies, has provided detailed information about the extent of and changes in religious diversity in the nation and in particular cities. Because the census also provides very detailed information about where people of different religions live, it can provide information about the extent to which religious groups are residentially segregated, a factor which affects how people of different religions relate to each other. The methodological issues related to measuring diversity are discussed and the utility in urban contexts of a ‘dissimilarity scale’ is demonstrated. The unique contribution of census data to the mapping and management of religious diversity in Australia is presented.     

Do perceived differences in religion matter at work?

Over 90% of the United States population affiliates with an organised religion. There has been, however, very little research regarding religion in work organisations. This study focuses on the effects of individual perceptions of religious dissimilarity, as a characteristic of deep-level diversity, on perceived cohesion. A scale is developed to measure individual perceptions of the dissimilarity of religion. Two different studies are used to establish reliability and validity of this scale. In addition, some implications of the negative relationship between individual perceptions of religious dissimilarity and perceived cohesion for organisations are discussed.     

Sacred Canopies or Religious Markets? The Effect of County-Level Religious Diversity on Later Changes in Religious Involvement

Secularization theories, such as Berger's Sacred Canopy argument, hold that religious diversity leads to a decline in religious participation. Religious market models (e.g., Finke and Stark) argue the opposite. Voas, Olson, and Crockett found that nearly all of the vast research exploring this important question prior to 2002 was flawed due to a previously unrecognized noncausal statistical relationship between measures of religious diversity and measures of religious participation. Since 2002, this methodological issue has largely stymied research on this important topic. We first describe how, following Voas et al.’s recommendations, longitudinal models can overcome these problems. We then apply these methods to data measuring the religious composition of all U.S. counties found in the Religious Congregations and Membership Studies from 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. Using multilevel longitudinal regression models, we find that greater county-level religious diversity is followed by later declines in county-level religious participation rates. The negative effect size of religious diversity is large and robust to changes in the control variables and different methods of measuring religious diversity.     

Who are these Buddhists and How Many of Them are There? Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Counting Immigrant Buddhists: A Danish Case Study

Religious demography is generally a challenging endeavor and counting and defining religions and religious identities in an Asian context is notoriously difficult. Buddhists in both Asia and the West have a long tradition of gray-zone religiosity, which means that membership and mono-identity is less common than syncretic engagement and hybrid identity. The immigrant Buddhists in the West are generally far more numerous than the convert and new age Buddhists. Their numbers are, however, extremely difficult to ascertain. This article discusses the methodological and theoretical problems in quantifying immigrant religion and the challenges of operationalizing such constraints into concrete methods. The empirical data derive from the author’s engagement in research on Buddhism in Denmark, in which traditions from both Theravada and Mahayana groups are represented. While concrete figures are suggested, it is also concluded that further empirical research as well as comparison with more contexts are necessary for the continued refinement of usable methods in counting immigrant religion.     

Racial Diversity in U.S. Congregations, 1998–2019

Racially diverse congregations have become an important part of the American religious landscape. We use data from the National Congregations Study (NCS), notably including data from the fourth wave, collected in 2018–2019, to examine 20 years of racial diversity in congregations. We find that racial diversity within congregations has increased substantially between 1998 and 2019. There are more congregations in which no one racial or ethnic group comprises more than 80 percent of the people, congregations’ average diversity level has increased, and the percentage of all-white congregations has declined. Nearly a quarter of evangelical churches now have no one ethnic group constituting more than 80 percent of the people, a rate comparable to what we observe among Catholic churches. Moreover, congregations that meet this 80-percent threshold are more likely to be led by black clergy in 2019 than they were in 1998. We end with a note of caution about concluding that diverse congregations necessarily promote racial justice.     

Religion as a source of variation in the experience of positive and negative emotions

In a series of three studies, we examined the ways in which religion informs the individual experience and valuation of emotions. In Study 1, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish participants (N = 7231) in 49 nations reported the frequency with which they experienced nine discrete emotions. Results indicate group level differences in the frequency with which different emotions are experienced. Study 2 examined whether the patterns of emotional experiences found in Study 1 replicated in the valuation of those emotions by the adherents of those different religious traditions. Study 3 experimentally manipulated the salience of religious identity to examine the effect of religion on the current experience of emotions. Across the studies, findings provide evidence that religion (e.g., Christianity, Buddhism, etc) is related to the experience of, and beliefs about, emotional states. Implications for the study of happiness and positive psychology are discussed in light of the findings.     

The 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education: a new direction for statutory religious education in England and Wales

The aim of this article is to introduce and summarise the main feature of the new Birmingham City Council Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education (2007 Birmingham City Council (BCC). 2007. Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, Birmingham: City Council.  [Google Scholar]), consider the relevance of its commitments and conclusions to ongoing debates within British religious education, and, finally, offer some kind of provisional assessment of its strengths and worth. By way of introduction, attention is given both to the mounting controversy that currently attends British religious education, which has given rise to conflicting opinions and estimates of its achievements and value, and to the historical role and legal status of agreed syllabuses within English and Welsh education.     

Is God an Aspect?

Neither logical deduction nor empirical induction is capable of mediating the dispute between religious disciples and non-disciples. The case is particularly acute when it comes to the divine Reality (God). Within Wittgenstein’s theoretical framework, some scholars start from the perspective of language games, contending that this dispute is meaningless and should be abandoned, while others are not satisfied with such a settlement and extend Wittgenstein’s aspect theory to religious issues, arguing that God is an aspect. The extension includes analogous and theoretical extensions. This article will show that even if these two extensions are successful, their interpretations with regard to the disputes between religious disciples and non-disciples are not convincing. Worse still, the extension from aspect theory to religious issues is by no means successful in proving that God is an aspect.     

Changes in Attitudes Toward Religion Among Those with Mental Illness

Despite the increased attention given to the religious experiences of those with mental illness, the specific nature of the changes in religious attitudes that occur within this population remain yet unknown. In this study, 406 individuals with persistent mental illness who attended one of 13 Los Angeles County Mental Health facilities completed a demographic questionnaire, an adapted version of the Religious Coping Index, and the Symptom Checklist 90-R. Over 54% of the participants reported a change in their religious beliefs such that their faith became stronger or weaker as a result, and 66% perceived these changes to be positive in nature. Qualitative codings suggest that a constructive or destructive use of religion and the quality of one's self-image and relationship with God are the primary themes underlying these changes. Those changes that were predominantly positive were associated with less severe symptomatology and more religious coping when compared to predominantly negative changes. These findings suggest that religious attitudes may be an ongoing and dynamic part of the experience of mental illness that should be considered in the treatment and research afforded by mental health professionals.